Butterflies in a Jar

Waiting for the muse to wake me
On the morning after
Looking for a lucky break
In the peeling plaster
Listening for the sounds of music
Drafty olden rafters
Hissing steam of radiators
Great creator’s master.
Laughter rising from the children playing in the yard
Garden sprinklers
Periwinkle and fuchsia
Leotards
Ballerinas
In an arena
Laurels for the Bard
Pirouette in silhouette
All the windswept boulevard
Figments of imagination
Mingling with the ill-starred
Orphans of Orpheus
Back-dropped by a vacant lot
And a repossessed Magic Shop
And the charred remains of a Mom and Pop’s
And a rusted broken down car
Scarred by the chain-linked reign of a prison yard
Brained
By the same sound
Bound to insidious laughter
Plastered
To the crackled walls
Of smoky pool halls
And launderettes
Marionettes
In a Tragedy
With broken arms and broken strings
Flung into the final scene
Fitfully
Capturing
Butterflies in a jar.